Panic-bolt construction.



H. F. HILL.

PANIC BOLT CONSTRUCTION,

APPLICATION FILED Nov.25. 1914.

Patented J 11116 1, 1915.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l LEE H. F. HILL.

PANIC BOLT CONSTRUCTION.

APPLICATION FILED NOV.25, 1914.

1,141,338. Patented June 1, 1915.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

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HENDERSON F. HILL, OF BLOOIVIFIELD, NEW JERSEY, ASSIG-NOR TO THE AMERICAN HARDWARE CORPORATION, OF NEW BRITAIN, CONNECTICUT, A CORPORATION OF CONNECTICUT.

Specification of Letters Patent.

PANIC-BOLT CONSTRUCTION.

Patented June 1, 1915.

Application filed November 25; 1914. Serial No. 873,849.

Bloomfield, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Im )rovements in Panic-Bolt Construction, 0 which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to panic bolt constructions of the type wherein a movable operatlng member on the interior of the door is moved relatively to the door to retract top and bottom fastening bolts.

It is the object of this invention to combine a device of this type with a separate and assembled lock mechanism of the usual door type, and which is applied to the door intermediate its top and bottom and includes a latch bolt operated from the outside of the door by a knob or other manually controlled device, said latch bolt being conneoted on the inside of the door to the operating mechanism for the top and bottom bolts aforesaid.

My invention combines these two lock mechanisms so that a three-point latch bolt mechanism is provided of the panic exit doortype, whereinall three of the latch bolts are moved to retracted position substantially simultaneously either by the operation of the outside knob or by the usual operation of the inside panic bolt operating member. V

' Furthermore, my device is so constructed as to permit the use of theinside mechanism without the intermediate or middle lock mechanism, by simply removing'a single connectingelement between thetwo.

One embodiment ofthe invention is described in detail in the following specification, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings forming a part thereof and in which stop-abutment.

the amb thereof, 3 indicating the door casingat the top and bottom of the door. Secured to the inner face of the door intermediate its top and bottom edges are guide I the upper end of the bar 6, this head 8latching over the cross bar 1.0 of a bracket plate vl0 secured to the under face of the door casing, the lower bolt-end 7 engaging a second One such abutment is shown in the drawings as comprising a socket plate 9 sunk in the floor forming the bottom casing of the door when closed. The

specific forms of latches form no part of this invention, and the latch heads 7 and 8 and their connection to-the operating bar 6 may be varied as desired, the main require ment being that movement of the bar -6-in one direction serves to move these top and bottom bolts to a position in which the door may be opened and, as will be seen later, also serves to retract an intermediate latch bolt.

The inside bar 6 intermediate its ends is provided with a block 11 having an elongated aperture 12 therethrough in the direction of the door, and providing therewithin upper and lower abutments 13. On the inner side face of this block 11, adjacent its rearedge, the rack 14 is provided. This rack may be readily formed thereon by casting or may comprisea separate member, if desired;

". 'Mounted on the inner face of the door in substantial alinement with'the guides 4 and 5, and adjacent the inside bar 6, 1s a plate 15 having an outwardly'extending arm 16 adjacent one edge thereof and having also an aperture 17 therein designed to receive the operating spindle of the intermediate latch, as will be seen later. The inside operating means for the top and bottom bolts may comprise any suitable manually controlled means. An ordinary form is shown in the drawings as comprising the usual U- shaped crossbar of a panic bolt mechanism, one end of this cross bar being pivotally mounted on the arm 16'of the'plate 1- 5, the opposite end (not shown) being simllarly hinged, as usual. The end of the cross bar 18,- which is journaled upon the arm' 'l6, is

retract the latch bolts. The weight of this cross bar, however, is not sufiicient. to accomplishzthis purpose but merely serves as anxaid in the retraction of the latch bolts,

reducing the load onfthe dperating parts.

The two-point latch bolt mechanism described may be combined with the usual lock mechanism of a door, to give a three point latch panic-bolt in the following mannerzThe standard form of door lock, such ,as a mortiselock, is applied to a door in the .usual manner. -No special form of lockis necessary, the only requisite being that the lock mechanism, which is separate and assembled relative to the 1ns1de panlc bolt mechanism heretofore described, includes a latch bolt which will be positioned intermediate the top and bottom of the door and at the side edge thereof in the usual manner of locks, and *which will be actuated from the outside of the door by any suitable manuallyoperable means, such as the usual 1 knob; the lock mechanism furthermore requiring a rotatable latch-retracting spindle operativelyconnected with the outside knob and extending to the inside of the door. ln'pi'actice, one such spindle is afforded by the inside knob spindle found in the ordinary lock; V

In the drawingsQO designates the lock case of a mortise lock oflstandard construction,r2l the latch bolt thereof and 22 the outside knob by which the latch boltis re tracted from the outsideof the door. As-' suming thatjsu'ch a mortise lock mechanism is applied toprovide a latch bolt interme- ,diate the top andbottom of the? door and that the spindle 23-of the inside knobex- .tends through and beyond the inner face thereof; the inside two point latchFmechinismheretofore-described is coupled therer to by first applying the plate'15fso' that the latch-retracting spindle 23 will extend through the opening 17 therein. This will automatically indicate the line of applica-. tion of the guides 4 and 5 and of the bar (i'and its bolts to the inside face of the door. The inside knob spindle 23 will extend througlnthe aperture 17 in the plate '15. Itourilethis spindle: to the operatingbar-6 by means ofa pinion 2 1, which is readily mounted therein and meshes with the rack 14 011 the block 11 of the "bar 6.

Preferably, I form the pinion 24 with a boss 25 which will journal in the'o'pening 17 of the plate 15, the socket for the spindle-23 extending through the boss and pinion sothatthe latter is readily coupled to the spindle and is also provided with a a bearing in the plate.

from the foregoing that It will be. seen movement of .the cross bar 18 toward the .dooi will bring the finger 19 upwardly to lift the bar 6 to a .position where the top and bottom latch bolts aredisengaged from the abutments for, in other words,'re-

tractecb At the same time, as the block 11 is moved upwardly, the rack'l l. thereof will rotate {the pinion 2% and spindle 23, retracting the middlelatch bolt 21 so, that the top andbott-om latch bolts and intermediate latch bolt will be retracted simultaneously, thereby permitting the door to be opened from the inside. i I

The operation of the mechanism from the outside is as follows: By. turning the outside knob 22 in vthe usual latch-retracting direction, the middle latch 21 is of course retracted. As the inside knob spindle is operatively connected with the outside knob spindleand is, rotated when'the outside knob, is turned, the pinion 24: will also be turned when thenutside knob is turned and this rotation of the pinion willioperatethe rack 14, and barf'6 upwardly to move the top and bottom latch bolts to retracted position substantially simultaneously withthe middle latch bolt'2l. Asthe weight of the cross bar, by gravity, operates against} the bar 6 in latch-retracting direction; it; will be obivious that the load strainupon-theout side knob is not made unduly heavy.

' .It will be notedthat by operatively con. 'nectlng the inside operating means (the cross bar) with the inside bar 6, independently off the latch-retracting spindle connections theretmthe parts on theinside of the door may be used as the ordinary two-f point paniobolt latch, ,the block 11 of course having a rack l tthereon, the mortise lock mechanism and the coupling pinion 2% being dispensed with. An essential element of the operating connection between thev mortise lock mechanism and the upper'and able without affecting the connection between the upper and lower-bolts and the operating bar.- It will be seentherefore that i I have reduced theoperating mechanism to tion and'easy of assembling in cooperative relation; 1 r j While I'have herein illustrated a particular embodiment of: my invention, it" will be understood that 1 the same is susceptible of comparatively few parts, of simple construc- 7,

Variation both in structure and in relative f arrangement of parts within the spirit of the invention and the scope of theappended claims I t 7 7 lower bolts (pinion 24:) is therefore remov- VVhatI claim therefore and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:-

operative connection with said outside oper ating member, said latch spindle extending to the inside of the door with operative connections between said spindle and said inside bolt-operating bar, amanually con trolled inside operating member cooperating with said inside bar independently of said latch spindle connections, said inside and outside operating members being arranged to severally effect retraction of said top, intermediate and bottom latch bolts substantially simultaneously, a connecting element of said operative connections between said spindle and inside bar, being removable without infecting the operative connection between said top and bottom latch bolts and said manually controlled inside operating member. I V

2. In combination, a door, top vand bottom latch bolts on the inner face thereof, a bolt operating bar upon said inner face in operative retracting connection with said bolts, said inside bar having a rack, a separate and assembled lock mechanism carried by the door including an intermediate latch bolt at the side edge of the door with a manually controlled operating member therefor on the outside of the door and with a rotatable latch-retracting spindle in operative connection with said outside operating memher, said latch spindle extending to the inside of the door and having a pinion thereon meshing with said inside bolt-operating bar rack, a manually controlled inside operating member cooperating with said inside bar'independently of said latch spindle pinion and rack connections, said inside and outside operating members'being arranged to severally efiect retraction of said top, intermediate and bottom latch bolts substantially simultaneously, a connecting element of said operative connections between said spindle and inside bar, being removable without aifecting the operative connection between said top and bottom latch bolts and said manually controlled inside operating member.

3. In combination, a door, top and bottom latch bolts on the inner face thereof, a boltoperating bar upon said inner face in operative retracting connection with said bolts, said inside bar having a rack and an abutment separate therefrom, a separate and assembled lock mechanism carried by the door including an intermediate latch bolt at the side edge of the door with a manually controlled operating member therefor on the outside of the door and with a rotatable latch-retracting spindle in operative connection with said outside operating member, said latch spindle extending to the inside of the door and having a pinion thereon meshing with the rack of said inside bar, a manually controlled inside operating member cooperating with said inside bar abutment independently of said latch spindle rack and pinion connections, said inside and outside operating members being arranged to severally effect retraction of said top, intermediate and bottom bolts substan tially simultaneously, a connecting element of said operative connections between said spindle and inside bar, being removable without affecting the operative connection between said top and bottom latch bolts and said manually controlled inside operating member. 7

at. In combination, a door, top and bottom latch bolts on the inner face thereof, a boltoperating bar guided on said inner face and in operative retracting connection with said bolts, a separate and assembled lock mechanism carried by the door including an intermediate latch bolt at the side edge of the door with a manually controlled operating member therefor on the outside of the door and with a rotatable latch-retractmg spindle in operative connection with said outside operating member, said latch spindle extending to the inside of the door, a plate supported on the inside of the door adjacent said inside bar, said plate having an aperture therein to receive said latch spindle, operative connections between said latch spindle and said inside bar, and an inside manually controlled operating member operatively connected with said inside bar independently of said latch spindle connections, said inside and outside operating members being arranged to severally effectretraction of said top, intermediate and bottom latch bolts substantially simultaneously.

5. In combination, a door, top and bot tom latch bolts on the inner face thereof,

a bolt-operating bar guided on said inner face and in operative retracting connection with said bolts, said bar having a rack thereon and an abutment separate therefrom, a separate and assembled lock mechanism carried by the door including an intermediate latch bolt at the side edge of the door, with a manually controlled operating member therefor on the outside of the door and with a rotatable latch-retracting spindle in operative connection with said outside operatin g member, said latch spindle extending to the inside of the door, a plate supported on the inside of the door adjacent said inside bar, said plate having an aperture therein to receive said latch spindle, a pinion carried by said spindle and meshing with the rack on said inside bar, and a manually controlled operating member carried by said plate and arranged to engage said inside bar abutment, said inside and outside operating members being arranged to severally-eflect retraction of said top, intermediate and bot tomlatch bolts, substantially simultaneously.

6. In combination, a door, top and bottom latch bolts on the inner face thereof, a bolt-operating bar upon said inner face in operative retracting connection with said bolts, a separateand assembled lock mechanism carried by theldoor including an intermediate latch bolt at the side edge of the door with a manually controlled operating member therefor on the outside of the doorand with a rotatable latch-retracting spindle in operative connection with; said outside operating. member, said latch spindle extending tothe inside of the door with operative connections between said spindle and said'inside operating bar, a manually 7 controlled inside operating member cooperating with said inside bar independently of said latch spindle connections, said inside and outside operating members being arranged to severally efiiectretraction of said top, intermediate and bottom latch bolts substantially simultaneously, the weight of said inside operating member operatingby gravity against said inside bar in the direction of latch-retracting movementthereof.

,7. Asanarticle of manufacture, a panic bolt mechanism for application to-one face 7 of a door-comprising top and bottom bolts,

a bar for operative retracting connection with said bolts, said bar having a rack there-v on,-,andha v1ng an operating abutment sepa-' rate from said rack, a plate arranged to be secured tosaiddoor face adjacentsaid bar,

amanually controlled operating member arranged to :be supported by said plate and to engage said-abutment to move said bar in a'direction .to retract said bolts, said plate having an opening therein adjacent said bar rack.

' HENDERSON F. HILL. Witnesses: Y 1

C. J. HAGHENBERG, R. G. MITCHELL.

C'opiesof this patent may be obtained fo'r five cents each, by agiglressing the Commissioner of Patents, v Washington, 13-0. a 

